Hard Action Versus Soft Action

This would be called an interesting topic me and my buddies were talking about today.

The difference between hard action and soft action.

Now the terms came up in the middle of the conversation and we got a few odd glares while talking about it but here is how it’s laid down.

Hard Action- the details in fan fiction are extreme when it comes to combat, gore is described with extreme detail.

Ex. Charleston hit the dirt, he could feel his intestines in his hand, and the warmth of them filling his grip, a crimson liquid coated them. His eyes watered, waiting for the end as the shadow approached him.

Soft Action- the details are described are much lower, gore and vivid details on killing are left out or maybe not mentioned at all.

Ex. Charleston hit the cold ground, his body lanced with pain, his hand gripped around his abdomen. Tears filled his eyes and looked up. Waiting for the end as the shadow approached him.

Now notice the two the examples, they are both of the same scene but one shows much more detail in it, getting you intrigued and the other leaves it out. How to use this fiction is a "complicated" choice to make. Some readers, despise hard action, why?

They hate seeing gore, even if it's reading it, and some even say it kills the story as whole. Soft action on the other hand leaves out detail, and everyone enjoys a bit of detail, no matter how small, and sorry folks if someone was being blown to hell, it is interesting to read how he is blown to hell.

So to get down to it Hard Action>Soft Action and keep that in mind while writing the more detail you add the better, it keeps your audience attentive and it makes you form the pictures in their minds and that is what writing should do. If your writing doesn't do that, try and step it up a bit.

Well it's not Fan Fiction...

The SPARTAN 300

Well this may not be Halo Fanfiction but it's enjoyable to watch. Have fun:

The Ten Commandments of Halo Fanfiction

Basic guidelines that I think would be a good thing to have or to do in a Halo Fan Fiction, and what not to do.

• Try and Keep the "Elite Personnel" To a Minimum or Make them Stick Out- I was talking with the HBO Forums and they were right, sometimes you may need the Elite Special Forces to show the other side of the story but try to keep them to a minimum. Yet just saying there are too many Fanfics out there and you may just become one of the crowd...
• Keep it believable- a wounded soldier takes down ten elites with nothing but a combat knife and cigarette. That's not gonna happen.
• Show all aspects of war before and after, Human, Covenant, Battles or at Home- if a series, make people see everything, make people interact, show a child's point of view, do things that people never thought of.
• Never Use Clichés- Be original
• All Stories Have A Beginning, Middle and End- If you start it, by god finish it.
• Try to keep Halo2 Endings to a Minimum... Heck, No Halo 2 Endings- Try to wrap things up, it's not a bad thing to drop things like they are but trust me, it either pisses off the reader or urges them to read the next. The choice is yours, and a risky choice it is. The better choice is not to do them at all.
• Make the Character Relatable- Give them emotion, even the Master Chief has problems, give them family, friends, problems, etc.
• This is Halo- You have over twenty five years of warfare, use 'em, because like Star Wars, Bungie won't be able to fill up all the gaps in the storyline now will they?
• Be Creative- Characters should be original, add things no one would expect and keep the surprises coming, and make the readers want more.
• Numbuh 10 Read the Novels- Try and read the books, they give you worlds, numbers, facts alot of things that most would not see if you just played the games. Trust me it helps. And it especially helps if you're going to make new weaponry and if you're making some new types of units.

I love the smell of blogging in the morning... It smells like... Writing.

Well ladies and gentlemen welcome to the Ghosts of Onyx Blog, the name's Pwns... Indiana_Pwns. Or in other words John/ Jin Won/ Jinny by the many websites I'm on. {Go Halo Wars Central!} *cough*

Anyway I'm the writer of Halo Fanfiction, hence the name Ghosts of Onyx, one of the more recent Halo Novels written by our favorite author Eric Nylund. My favorite author anyway. I have read all the Halo novels -more than once I might add- and I write at least a half dozen short stories a month and I'm trying to complete a long length novel about a pair of marines from a unit I made myself.

So let me get to the point... Or points.

I know many of you don't like advice on how to write your stories or how they should be written. But here, if you want to read, I'll provide help, a constant updated story (Only for this blog), and the TEN COMMANDMENTS OF WRITING HALO FANFICTION. *Lightning flashes in the background* There are good writers out there, but some of you are horrible ones -no offense, but there is potential in you to give you a polite nudge in the right direction.

And one more thing.

Thanks alot to Bungie -you brought me Halo- , Halo.Bungie.Org -one kicka** website- , and the men and women who write fanfiction I enjoy reading every second of the day. Thanks a bunch guys and gals.